


A Smiling Facade

by SnakesOnPlanes



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Gotham City - Freeform, Gotham City Police Department, Heavy Angst, Other, Sibling Rivalry, fucking madness, jeremiah just wanted to wash a fucking bowl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 01:17:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18377975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnakesOnPlanes/pseuds/SnakesOnPlanes
Summary: Jeremiah has always been abused at home. Never truly happy because the circus life was shit. Jerome always used his twin as a scapegoat, but what happens when his scapegoat suddenly disappears?





	A Smiling Facade

**Author's Note:**

> So....this is gonna have chapters, and i wanna know what y'all think about this bit!

Jerome was at the sink, washing a plastic bowl, poorly. Jeremiah was in the kitchen as well, throwing away the lid from a can of food. He opens the dishwasher and pulls out a glass bowl and grabs the rag from the sink. "So J," he starts, applying dish soap to the small hand towel, glancing at Jerome momentarily. "What's up with our routine for the act tonight?" he asks, some water from the bowl getting on Jerome's forearm. Jerome growled and wiped the soapy liquid back onto his brother.

"What the fuck- that's gross!" Jerome snapped. Jeremiah made a noise of disgust and wiped his arm back against Jerome before stepping back to prevent being touched. "Stop!" Jerome yells. He grabs the rag that was in Jeremiah's hand, which was also partially in the bowl, and yanked it from his twin's grasp. The bowl goes flying, before smashing into the floor. 

Jeremiah's eyes widen, "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" he screams, blood boiling. "I will not clean this up- this is your fault!!" he's stomping his bare foot down onto the floor, right by a shard of glass. Luckily, he didn't cut his foot. 

"Yeah? Well you better clean this up, you little bitch. Ma's gonna be home any minute now and if she finds out..." Jerome's grinning like a madman, rinsing his own bowl before adding whatever contents of food he had into it, shoving it into the microwave. 

"Pissant." Jeremiah hisses between clenched teeth, heading into the bathroom for a towel. He places it onto the kitchen floor and picks up the large shards first. He then carefully went for the little shards before dumping the contents into the brim filled trashcan. 

He grimaced at his brother, who's just sitting on his phone, acting as if he's done nothing. "You piece of shit...you'll pay." he mutters, before shaking out the towel and hanging it back up, taking a broom to the floor for caution. There weren't any shards of glass on the floor thankfully as he swept, and placed the broom back into it's primary position against the wall. 

"Heard that!" Jerome sneers from the couch. 

"Yeah, with big ears like that, you can hear everything, can't you?" Jeremiah shoots back, under his breath.

That causes Jerome to jump up from his seat and set his phone down, before heading over to his twin. He jacks up Jeremiah, shoving him to the wall. "Listen here, you keep talkin' all that shit under your breath and I'll give you a reason to become as quiet as a church mouse when I'm near," Jerome's hand comes up to Jeremiah's neck, restricting his air flow. "I'm the boss, and when ma's not around, I'll still be the boss, so you just sit there like the little pristine little fucker you are, and keep your mouth shut, Miah." 

Jerome then pulls Jeremiah to the floor in a swift motion, causing his sibling to cry out in pain and surprise, his chin colliding with the floor. In the process, be bit his tongue and lip so hard that he could taste an immense amount of the metallic crimson in his mouth. Jerome put him in a headlock with one hand, and straddles his back as he pulls his hair with his other hand. 

"Tap out," Jerome spits. 

"Never," Jeremiah chokes out, squirming to free himself, growling and panting harshly for air. 

"No?" Jerome tightened his grip immediately and was squeezing the life out of Jeremiah. Quite literally. 

Jeremiah looked like a tomato, face and neck becoming a deeper shade of red within every passing second. Fear filled his wide eyes as he realized that Jerome could kill him with no remorse, and slammed the heel of his palm into the floor. 

"Good boy!" Jerome beams, lightening his grip just a bit. "Who's the boss, huh? C'mon Miah, I know you know it." he grins, getting a kick out of tormenting his sibling, rolling around the possibility of taking his life rather than playing predator versus prey with him.

Jeremiah was thankful he didn't have his glasses. "C-Certainly not you," he stammers, before wheezing as Jerome starts it up again, squeezing his neck. 

"Wrong answer." Jerome chuckles. Jeremiah's vision becomes blurry, and his eyes roll to the back of his head for just a second before he begins to thrash around wincing as Jerome harshly tugs at his hair. "Tap out and tell me I'm the boss, Miah!" Jerome's voice goes from a mean playful to sinister. 

Just then, Lila, their mother, the snake dancer, shoves the trailer door open with a half full bottle of alcohol. "The fuck's going on here?" she slurs, taking a large swig from the bottle in her hand. She slams the door shut and sets the bottle down. 

"Miah broke your pretty bowl and tried to cut me with it, I'm defending myself ma!" Jerome lies as he pulls a fake expression of fear. 

Lila checks the trash to find broken glass, and growls. 

Jeremiah is clawing at Jerome's arm, with labored breath. Just as he feels dreariness wash over his senses he first feels the pressure on his neck give and he's swallowing for air desperately now. 

"Th-That's not t-true, mother-" he gasps, his hands around his own neck as if it would alleviate the pain, knowing that bruises would be there much later on. Jerome stood against the wall, fake crying, pretending that he was the one who should be fearing for his life. 

"You...You liar!!" Jerome sobs against Lila, who's shushing him and shooting daggers at Jeremiah. She takes her bottle and chucks it at him, and he dodges it just in time as it smashes against the trailer's wall. The microwave beeps and all that's clouding Jeremiah's hearing is white noise and the faded, watered down nagging from his mother. 

Jerome's grinning at the fact that his brother is finally getting in trouble, and sits up so Lila can make her way over to him. 

"He broke the bowl, he tried to kill me!! Did you not see me on the floor? He was choking me out!" Jeremiah tries to defend himself, but earns a solid back hand to his face. His head whips to the side, and spits out some blood onto the wall. 

He holds his cheek as tears prickle in his eyes, threatening to spill. "All my life, I've tried to protect you, take up for you when you were in the wrong and- and you just..." Jeremiah sucks in a breath. "This is how you repay me?!" he screams, lunging at his brother. 

Jerome doesn't feel guilty right now, but he sure as will be thinking about this later. So for now he flinches. "For seventeen years, I've done nothing but shield you from the storm of arrows and swords with my love for you as a brother, and risk my life for yours!!" Before Lila grabs Jeremiah, he gets a few good punches in on Jerome. 

"Get out! I never wanna see you again today- out!!" Lila shrieks, shoving the door open and Jeremiah out. No shoes, just his glasses. He scrambles to grab them, and wipes the dirt from them before hastily putting them on. 

"Much better.." Jeremiah mutters and stands, brushing his shirt and shorts off, breathing heavily. It was hot. He heads to Mr. Cicero's trailer and knocks, fixing his hair before the door opened. 

"Mr. Cicero!" Jeremiah beams and smiles warmly. "My mother is in need of some time alone, and I forgot my shoes inside, do you have a spare pair that I could possibly borrow for a little while?" he asks, and Paul nods, stepping aside to let Jeremiah inside. 

"I keep them by bathroom." Cicero calls. Jerome searches for a pair that would fit him, and socks. He returns to the blind fortune teller, and pats his shoulder. 

"Thank you so much, I will take good care of them and have them returned before the carnival events begin." Jeremiah chuckles softly. 

"All is well, if you ever need anything, I will be more than happy to help. I see success and prosperity in your future, Jeremiah." Paul advised, and Jeremiah thanks him again before leaving. 

"Now to keep myself cool and entertained..." The ginger says to himself, walking down a path.


End file.
